Violone - History

History

Both the violin and viol families came into use in the Western world at approximately the same time (c.1480) and co-existed for many centuries. That being said, during the Renaissance and early Baroque eras, the two families had different uses, and in particular, different social standings. Viols were primarily household instruments, played by well-to-do, educated members of society, as a pleasant and cultured way of passing time. In contrast, violin family instruments were primarily used for social functions, performed on by professional players.

During this 'early' period, the largest member of the violin family in common use was a cello-sized instrument, but quite often tuned a whole step lower than the modern cello (G-C-F-B♭). This isn't to say that there weren't larger sized violoni described in the violin family at that time, it's just that descriptions of those larger basses are fewer, and there are many different tunings possible. Also, at this early period, there was minimal need for an instrument that would function at 16' doubling an 8' bass line. Human-sized members of the violin family were at first used primarily for dramatic effect in operas (and other dramatic works), and later for similar dramatic effect in concerto grosso type 'orchestral' settings.

In contrast, large members of the viol family were much more common, and used from earliest times, playing their lines at 8' pitch. There is much evidence to show that Renaissance viol consorts were made of lots of large-bodied instruments. Great bass viols (with both A and G tunings) are described in numerous treatises, and there is a lot of solo and chamber music that necessitates their use because of its low compass. Some of this music is extremely virtuosic in nature (the viola bastarda pieces by Vincenzo Bonizzi, for example, exploit a 3 and 1/2 octave range). It's also clear that both women and men played instruments of this size - the preface to Bonizzi's 1626 collection is dedicated to the 3 daughters of his Ferrarese patron, for example, and there are also numerous paintings that depict women playing very large viol family instruments.

A very important technological advance occurred in the 1660s, centred in Bologna. This was the invention of wound ("overspun") strings. For bass instruments, this was hugely influential, because it meant one could now obtain good sounding low strings (that were not rope-like in diameter) without having a very long string length. It's at exactly this time and geographical area that the first use of the term "violoncello" comes into use, that what we now consider a 'standard' cello tuning (ADGC) becomes the norm, that a solo repertoire for the 'cello starts to appear, and that the 'cello starts to replace the G or A violone as the preferred bowed continuo instrument (see the excellent articles by Stephen Bonta for more detailed information). These advances for the 'cello were likely the first seeds of decline for the G/A violone. However, it was also this time period that saw the growth of instrumental ensembles, and the beginning of a taste for 'concerti' and 'symphonies.' For players/communities that had previously favoured G/A violoni as their main bowed basses, once the cello took over the 8' role, the larger bodied G/A violoni could be used as 16' doubling instruments. It's also from this time period (early 18th century) that most of the D violone tuning descriptions are documented. By this point, most of the other sized members of the viol family had died out (with the exception of the bass viol, which was cherished as a solo and chamber instrument). The largest members of the viol family (G and D violoni) were used in some regions even when other places had started to replace them with 3 and 4 string contrabasses/double basses. It is almost certainly for this reason that the modern double bass to this day is so varied, and lacks a standard form, tuning or playing style. The modern double bass combines features of both the viol and violin families.